Unbiassed Shock Absorber Info Sought.

I to had ome shocks, springs on a HJ60 in the early 90's they were great done a lot of hard km couln't fault them.

I currently have tough dog adjustables on my GQ find them good especially when you can change the ride comfort to suit not sure how they are with a 1990 Prado leaf sprung 4x4.

I also have Tough Dog adjustables on my Hilux and they are great. If fully laden turn them up to 6, around town adjust them to 1. Great ride laden or empty. 120,000km later and still going fine.

Can't go 2 far wrong with Koni

Hi Nick

I have just recently had a change of employment to a Mechanical Repair business here in Clare, that work on everything from the biggest of trucks, tractor, excavators, four wheel drives and conventional vehicles.

The guy that runs the business is one very smart and trusted man and to my surprise, of all the brands of shock absorbers that are on the market, he will only fit
Dobinson shocks as replacement shocks to all the four wheel drives.

Cheers


Stephen

Thanks Stephen I would have put them on my ute if I could have got them locally at the time but needed them straight away and Iron Man were the next best thing .

We have them on our 100 series ifs LC , 4 shocks & front torsion bars & find then a very harsh ride , not nice.
But have done some big trips i.e cape york Kimberly with no problems .

I've been back searching for that damn grommet and still can't find it. Have you had a thorough look through your toolbox to make sure it is not there?



PS: For Innocent bystanders .. this is a very "IN" joke. Don't be alarmed !!

You ae right about weight. we are scrutinising everything we are going to take on the trip. Only difficulty I am having is cutting down on water. But your advice is good. Thanks.
OBJ

OBJ posted:
You ae right about weight. we are scrutinising everything we are going to take on the trip. Only difficulty I am having is cutting down on water.
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Have you thought about towing a very small trailer? I have a 1600 x 1200 x .450 very light weight trailer with a tubular axle, single leaf springs, shocks and no brakes.

We use it when we stay close to home and camp for extended periods. It is divided into seven separate compartments and is used only for carrying a lot of small items like gas bottles, camp ovens, large folding chairs etc. that would take up too much room in the car and take its weight up to close to GVM.

If I intended driving over long roads like the Canning or Anne Beadell, I would make another one just to carry water and fuel and not much else.

Fuel would be carried in car fuel tanks. I have seen a few ute tanks in self serve wrecking yards that would sit nicely sideways across the trailer chassis in front of and behind the axle. Five jerries would fit across the chassis above the axle. Things like an extra spare wheel could be fitted easily.

You don't need a body or a lid on a trailer like that. Something like that should make it possible to take all that you need while keeping the car well under GVM and miles under its towing capacity.

It is excessive weight and speed that breaks cars in those rough and remote conditions. If drivers kept both down, none of them should have any trouble out there.

Getting back to shocks: I don't know the exact reason Collyn Rivers chose re-valved trucks shocks. My guess is it was to get more heat absorbiton by using a larger shock while bringing them back to the standard specifications of the originals was to avoid overstressing the standard shock mounts.

In my days in the motor industry I saw a lot more than just a few broken shock mounts as a result of stiffer aftermarket shocks. In two cases they ripped the top rear shock mounts out of the floor in 2wd station wagons.

Tha is just something else to keep in mind when altering the original design.

Hi Splits.

I did not want to take a trailer. I have a Tvan which mechanically is capable of doing the trip, but I think I will enjoy the trip more if I leave it at Maree or elsewhere.

I also don't expect to get through it without something breaking, as it is with these types of trips. Part of the joy of remote travelling I think.

My only solution to the water thing is to see if someone can invent some form of dehydrated water that you can carry and just add water to it when you want to use it :) ... As I often say "rule nothing out".

Thanks

OBJ

We left the roofrack water containers empty and carried 20 litre water berries on the floor behind the seats. Where you pack is more important.

Dozer .. what is a water berry? Don't want to rule anything out but I am not aware of that terminology. I am sure it is a simple answer, but I have not come across it before.
Thanks.
OBJ

Sorry, typo, should have read jerries